


In His Shoes

by misbehavingvigilante



Series: reaper76 week [2]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Reaper76 Week, slight body horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-17 23:17:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9350579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misbehavingvigilante/pseuds/misbehavingvigilante
Summary: There’s a stability in his bones that hasn’t been present since his death and failed resurrection leaving him in a half state, something human and something not but always, always suffering.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a much more solid crack at Day 2 of reaper76 week In His Shoes - Role/Body swapping. 
> 
> Honestly, I didn't even know I was going to do anything for this day, but here it is anyways.

There’s something unsettling about coming into consciousness.

There’s a stability in his bones that hasn’t been present since his death and failed resurrection leaving him in a half state, something human and something not but always, always suffering.

Gabriel doesn’t know what’s wrong. It shouldn’t be wrong not to be in pain but to him it is, immediately he knows something is amiss. Pain had been his constant companion, the only guiding thing he had left when he felt bereft of anything else.

On second thought, there is some pain, it was just very different compared to his usual pain that’s like a roaring static akin to tinnitus always there and always interfering in his day to day life regardless of what he does. This is a faint, quiet pain which in itself feels like a slap in the face.

When was the last time his pain was ever like this? It felt like a memory from before. Back when Overwatch had been whole, when the most complaints had was just exhaustion and every muscle aching from mission after mission back when camaraderie between all members had been constant.

The lack of vision isn’t immediately alarming given sometimes, some parts of his body just stop working. It isn’t really fun, but hey, it’s not like he can die anyways. It can make a fight challenging when suddenly an organ shuts down, or Gabriel’s favorite thing had been when his arm had just came off suddenly without warning.

The person he had been fighting had been so shocked at the display, that it had been so easy to shoot him with his remaining hand.

Given the level of pain though, it is a bit alarming because it’s different. And given it’s been a few years since he became this Gabriel had gotten used to what it means to be Reaper and this feels nothing like being Reaper.

Did Talon do something to him? It wasn’t as unlikely as Gabriel would have liked, in the end Talon was self-serving even to people the organization liked using, if they could be improved somehow, it would be done, wanted or not.

Widowmaker was a prime example of that given the fact her enhancements hadn’t stopped after they made her into a weapon. She was more under their thumb than anyone, even Gabriel hadn’t been as free as he liked.

Sombra had that honor who came and went as she pleased, far more dangerous than she appeared given her playful personality. Though, it had amused Gabriel because here was someone Talon had underestimated. In a way, it had reminded him of someone else.

Granted, he hadn’t taken Sombra under his wing, so much as she had crawled up under there herself mostly to annoy him. Unlike Jesse, who he had to fight people to get him in Overwatch and keep him there in the first place because no one had wanted to believe in the kid.

Still, it didn’t do him any good to dwell on the past. So Gabriel set on to try and figure out what was going on. He had remembered drifting off to sleep, reluctantly because it’s not like sleep really did anything nowadays.

He didn’t need to sleep or eat anymore which in itself was a bit strange given how much time that freed up in a day. There was almost too much time in a day without such things, that it could drive Gabriel more than a little up against the wall by being left with his thoughts for so long.

Normally, he did missions to eat up the time, as Talon loved how around the clock available he was, it meant he was a great asset. But apparently not enough if they were responsible for this.

Pushing that thought aside, Gabriel tried to summon his shotguns. They always came to his side without fail regardless of the state he was in.

The lack of them really started to make Gabriel nervous.

He wasn’t human again, was he? That thought was distressing because he hadn’t consented to anything like that. Honestly Gabriel wasn’t sure he wanted to be human again, sure being Reaper was suffering but it did come with perks.

“Fuck.” Gabriel cussed, and it sounded nothing like his voice. His voice had become very distinctive, an otherworldly gravelly voice.

This was something else, or rather someone else, someone human.

Panic spiraled through his veins upon recognizing that voice. It wasn’t like there was any amount of years that would make him forget Jack’s voice. Even after becoming Solider 76, Gabriel had still recognized that voice even through the mask distorting it a bit.

What the fuck was going on?

He was in Jack’s body? Hell, he knew he could eat souls, but possess another body? As admittedly interesting as that was, Gabriel couldn’t very well appreciate right now.

It was plausible sure, being Reaper was a weird thing in many, many ways.

But Gabriel had his doubts, he hadn’t seen Jack in weeks, wasn’t even entirely sure of his whereabouts actually more because he hadn’t given a damn after their last encounter had gone south again.

Sure, if it was a few months without hearing anything, Gabriel would have gone to track the old bastard down because if Jack was going to die, it wasn’t going to be by some lameass gang members that he apparently felt the need to take out.

Maybe if he was in Jack’s body… Jack was in his.

That was a chilling thought in more ways than one. Talon would notice, Gabriel had a trial and error learning to adapt to his new smoke self, so obviously Jack wouldn’t know how to use any of his abilities. Of course, Talon probably couldn’t kill him, but they would sure as hell try if he started acting strangely.

Somehow, it wasn’t very comforting to think of Jack being tortured. It wasn’t just the strangeness of this situation, the uncertainty of what exactly would happen to his body after he returned back to it afterwards. Talon would never trust him again and that would make things complicated to put it mildly.

But even without that, he didn’t really want Jack to die. Maybe at first, sure, anger was anchoring and blinding in equal measures. It was so easy to love Jack, after all.

Maybe a part of him never stopped, honestly Gabriel hadn’t given those thoughts much attention because he hadn’t wanted to. It was easy to distract himself just by his sheer existence being a state of suffering, or by doing missions for Talon as their work was never done apparently.

His best hope was that Sombra and Amélie would notice his odd behavior before Talon could and sensing something was off, keep them from finding out until they could figure out what was going on.

And more importantly how to fix it.  


End file.
